page_title: Oh! Calcutta!
section_title: Background and productions
hierarchical_section_title: Oh! Calcutta! / Background and productions
caption_attribution_description: English: Times Square, New York City, 1981, Billbord for the musical Oh! Calcutta! Deutsch: Times Square, New York, 1981, Werbeplakat für das Musikal Oh! Calcutta!
context_page_description: Oh! Calcutta! is an avant-garde theatrical revue created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in the West End in 1970. It ran in London for over 3,900 performances, and in New York initially for 1,314. Revivals enjoyed even longer runs, including a Broadway revival that ran for 5,959 performances, making the show the longest-running revue in Broadway history at the time.
  As of 2018, its revival was still the longest-running revue in Broadway history; the second longest-running revival, after Chicago; and the eighth longest-running Broadway show ever.
  The show sparked considerable controversy at the time due to its extended scenes of total nudity, both male and female. The title is taken from a painting by Clovis Trouille, itself a pun on "O quel cul t'as!", French for "What an arse you have!"
context_section_description: Tynan came up with the idea of putting on an erotic revue in the summer of 1966. Tynan had hoped that Harold Pinter would direct the production, in order to give it avant-garde legitimacy, but Pinter declined.  Sketches were written by, amongst others, Samuel Beckett, John Lennon, Sam Shepard, Leonard Melfi, Edna O'Brien, Jules Feiffer, and Tynan, and featured the cast naked. Peter Schickele (also known as "PDQ Bach"), Robert Dennis and Stanley Walden were the revue's composers, known as The Open Window.  Beckett's contribution, Breath, was used as a Prologue in the original New York staging, but Beckett eventually withdrew permission for its use.
  The musical opened off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre on June 21, 1969, transferred to the Belasco Theatre on February 17, 1971, and closed on August 12, 1972 after a total of 1,314 performances. It was directed by Jacques Levy (later the songwriting partner of Bob Dylan on his album Desire) and choreographed by Margo Sappington. The cast included Raina Barrett, Mark Dempsey, Katie Drew-Wilkinson, Boni Enten, Bill Macy, Alan Rachins, Leon Russom, Margo Sappington, Nancy Tribush and George Welbes, as well as the 3 "Open Window" composers.
  The musical premiered in London on July 27, 1970 at The Roundhouse, and transferred to the West End Royalty Theatre on September 30, 1970, running through January 27, 1974. The show then transferred to the Duchess Theatre on January 28, 1974, where it ran until February 1980, for a total of 3,918 performances. The London show was produced by Michael White.
  A revival opened on Broadway at the Edison Theatre on September 24, 1976 and closed on August 6, 1989 after 5,959 performances, again directed and choreographed by Levy and Sappington. The revival briefly became the longest-running show in Broadway history. It remains Broadway's eighth longest-running show and the longest-running revue in Broadway history.
  A pay-per-view video production played on closed-circuit television in select cities in 1971, and was released theatrically in 1972; in both cases many cities and municipalities banned its showing. Frank Herold, an editor who worked on the film, provides commentary on this in a brief post he contributed to the project's Internet Movie Database page.
  The Spanish-language premiere production opened on October 9, 1977 at Teatro Príncipe in Madrid, Spain, directed by Juan Jose Alonso Millan, who also translated the show.
caption: Billboard on Broadway in 1981
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